Ford Zephyr

The Ford Zephyr wis a caur manufactured bi the Ford Motor Company in the Unitit Kinrick. Between 1950 an 1972, it wis sold as a mair pouerful sax-cylinder saloon tae complement the fower-cylinder Ford Consul: frae 1962 the Zephyr itself wis offered in baith fower- an sax-cylinder versions.

The Zephyr an its luxury variant, the Zephyr Zodiac which appeared in 1955, wur the lairgest passenger caurs in the Breetish Ford range frae 1950 till they wur replaced in 1971 bi a lairger Ford Consul an Granada.

The Mark I Ford Consul an Zephyr models wur first displayed at the Earl's Court motor show in 1950. They wur the first tae uise in mass production the MacPherson Strut independent front suspension which is still widely uised today. Production began wi the Consul on Januar 1, 1951. The Mark I model ran till 1956. Frae April 1956 the Mark II Consul, Zephyr an Zodiac went on sale an wur kent as the Three Graces. The Mark II range wis a big seller an finished its run in 1962 when frae Aprile that year the Mark III Zephyr 4, Zephyr 6 an Zodiac went on sale; the Consul name wis dropped, the caur's place in the Ford UK line-up being filled bi the first fower-cylinder Ford Zephyr. While the Mark II Zephyr an Zodiacs haed shared the same body (the Consul haed shorter front guards an bulkhead), the new Zodiac an Zephyrs launched in 1962 shared few body panels. Wi the Mark III, Ford finally sortit oot problems that haed beset previous models (Mark I axles an Mark II gearboxes wur particular weaknesses) an the Mark III proved tae be the maist popular an durable o the range (it is said that possibly nae ither UK-based caur haed unnergane as much pre-production testin). The model sold at a rate equal tae or better than the Mark II baith in the UK an overseas, but wis in production for a shorter time. During the last months o production, an up-market Executive version wis addit tae the Mark III range, an examples o these are today hichtlie sought efter. The Mk III range wis discontinued in Januar 1966 (mony believe prematurely given the caurs' success) an the completely new Zephyr / Zodiac Mark IV range wis released in Aprile 1966. This caur wis somewha ahead o its time wi a design that anticipatit the later Consul/Granada range wi V-ingines an independent rear suspension, but the research an development o the model wis very rushed an this unfortunately reflectit in its durability.

Although the Ford Zephyr niver saw American production, caurs wur importit intae the US an the name itself haes appeared on ither American Ford-relatit caurs: the Mercury Zephyr wis an upscale version o the Ford Fairmont, an the Lincoln Zephyr began its seicont production run in 2006 (the first wis frae 1936 tae 1942).